


i'm gonna teach you how we're all alone

by hellfire



Category: Umbrella Academy
Genre: Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6397441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellfire/pseuds/hellfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Diego is an asshole and Ben puts him in his place. Kinda.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'm gonna teach you how we're all alone

00.02, the Kraken, Diego Hargreeves, is usually not a man to use words before he uses his fists. Tonight was not an exception. In fact, the criminal that the team manages to apprehend ends up in the hospital. Diego also manages to fracture two knuckles on his dominant hand, and sprains the same wrist.

His methods have become... Significantly more brutal since Vanya left three months ago. He knows he was supposed to be there for her, but by the time he had wrapped up, you know, making sure their family didn't die, her flight was long gone. He only found this out by the time he made it to the airport, so there was no chance to apol-

"Hey," Ben says in a quiet voice, which isn't very quiet at all. Their voice is loud, like a clap of thunder in the calm of a storm, no matter how much they try to soften it. "Allison wants to see you."

"Fuck off," the blonde snarls, watching the giant's shoulders hunch in a defensive way.

"I... I'll pass that along."

"Go. The fuck. Away. Benjamin."

They blink their pale green eyes, clearly not leaving. A few stray tentacles leak out from under their shirt, which they quickly tuck back in.

They lean against the door frame, regarding him before they speak again. "Dee, are you sure you're okay? I'm worried about you. You've gotten really reckless, and this is the, like, ninth time this has happened. I don't want you to end up like Klaus i-"

"Goddamn Ben, shut the fuck up! I'm not going to end up like the junkie. He may be stupid enough to shoot up and drink himself to cirrhosis, but I have more than two brain cells to rub together."

He notices the change immediately after the words are out of his mouth. Ben pulls themself up to their full height, the top of their head only a few inches from the top of the doorway. They cross their arms, eyes narrowed. The way they hold their body screams confidence and superiority. The way they get in Superhero Mode.

"Don't you _dare_ speak about him like that," they say in a cool, controlled tone. "Don't you _dare_. That's our brother, and _my best friend_ you're talking about like that. You know _damn well_ that he only does this because of all his mental illnesses that Dad refuses to let him get treatment for."

They pause, giving Diego a hard look.

"And what I was going to say what that I don't want you to end up like him in the sense that I hardly recognize you. But it looks like I'm too late on those well wishes, because I don't recognize you _at all._ You're not our brother at this point, you're just some stranger that we live with and work with. 

"You're a selfish, self-centered asshole that was too much of a chicken shit to tell Vanya that you love her, AND you abandoned her when she needed you the most. You have some nerve to be insulting others when you're just as bad in other aspects."

Diego was stunned into silence. Ben... Ben _never_ talked to people like that. Ever. And those words hit hard.

They stalk away from the door after that, revealing a surprised looking Allison. The two of them hold eye contact for a moment before she shrugs.

"They summed it up better than I could. That was basically what I was going to say, but goddamn. But for real, get your shit together."

She closes the door behind herself after, leaving him in the empty room, with nothing but their words to keep him company.


End file.
